An ecstatic Carlos Sainz Jr. says he didn’t expect to be “best of the rest” after the Spaniard qualified seventh for the 2018 French Grand Prix.
Sainz will start five places ahead of his team-mate Nico Hülkenberg as the Renault Sport F1 Team compete at their home race as a factory-backed outfit for the first time since 1985.
“I’m very happy with today’s result!” says Sainz. “It’s a very positive qualifying performance. We didn’t expect to be the best of the rest but we managed to do a great job and grab the chance.”
For the race, Sainz points to a good start as key around a circuit expected to yield few over-taking opportunities. But adverse weather has played a part in Formula 1 practice and Saturday’s Formula 2 race.
“We look forward to the race where we’ll aim for a clean start and try and have a bright outing,” says Sainz.
“We’ll see about the weather first. Mixed or wet conditions always makes it more interesting and I always enjoy it.
“Hopefully we can get a strong result in front of the team’s home crowd.”
